Guru Purnima: The Fullest Full Moon of the Year

On July 11th, the Moon moves to the 15th tithi at 10:03 am CDT, which is the final phase of the waxing cycle. It is ripe and full of the Sun's light and ready to shine brightly in the night sky. This marks the beginning of the Guru Purnima festivities and provides us with an especially full and powerful Moon.

Considered the "fullest full Moon of the year", Guru Purnima is a particularly auspicious time in the Vedic calendar when we honor our gurus, teachers and guides for all the wisdom and illumination they have brought to our paths. The fullness can be felt in heart, in spirit, in our emotions and minds, as our cup is the fullest of the year right now and expressed through the power of the Moon!

I wish each of you a powerful and sacred Guru Purnima. May your paths continue to be illuminated by fulfillment, great wisdom, and by satya, truth.

This auspicious full Moon is in Sagittarius and PurvaAshada nakshatra at 06:24 am CDT. It's a full Moon poised for change and charged with movement, flow and momentum. With Apas ruling this powerful Guru Purnima Moon, so much energy and excitement is palpable and at our disposal. Be sure to use this Moon intentionally and sacredly.

What lights you up, sparks you, and inspires the passion of your spirit? What fills your vessel and illuminates your soul? This is the time to dive deep within and harvest your precious pearls; your knowing. It is a time of giving thanks and gratitude for the wisdom in your life that has smoothed you over like water does to stone; like our gurus do for our paths.

Apas is purifying us and guiding us with this full Moon. She is both harsh and severe, while also being gentle and soothing. She clears, cleans and purifies and does so through the heart and emotions. Let tears flow. Whether in joy or sadness or both. Let them wash your heart lotus and clean each petal. Create moments for being present to what is, to the silence and stillness that fills our sacred spaces within and all around us. Use this as your theme for the coming waning cycle: let the water smooth your rough edges, like water does to stone.

I encourage you to do a mandala creative ritual for harvesting your mind, emotions and physical experiences. Here is my Creative Ritual suggestion for Guru Purnima.

And just as the full Moon expands, it begins to wane again, losing its light, drop by drop. As Moon begins to wane, Rahu and Ketu are poised for their shift into Virgo and Pisces for the next 18 months. Read all the details here.

Just after Rahu and Ketu shift, Mars moves to Libra and Venus moves into Gemini. This is an unusually intense series of back to back planetary shifts. I give you more details about these intense times in my Moon Mind calendar.

Need some extra guidance and clarity for this coming year? Schedule a session with me.

*Full Moon Chart

Horoscopes:

*Horoscopes are based on your Vedic rising sign. You can also check your Moon and Sun signs for further insight. Do the same with your Navamsa signs for further clarity. Do not use these horoscopes with your “Western Sign” as there is likely no correlation. These horoscopes are meant to be used as a broad overview of the current transits and obviously do not address the specifics of an individual’s unique chart.

Aries: Changes start. And they come from the heart. The channel of illumination begins to open and offers awareness when you take sacred alone time- a theme for the coming 18 months. Self care and healing also become top priorities. Relationships, enemies and bad habits continue to be a primary focus for your energies right now. It will take courage to change some of the old patterns and coping mechanisms you've been clinging to, but this next Rahu Ketu cycle is ready to kick you into high gear. Ready, set, go.

Taurus: Suddenly you are making some sense out of your relationship patterns. Who you relate to and why. Looking behind the mirror in other words. You'll be using these insights plenty in the coming 18 months as you restructure your relationships- or as they restructure you. Right now, watch for bad habits and enemies that make their way into your body and environment. Watch what and who you ingest, as well as how you ingest them. Clean up toxicity. Be courageous with your heart and seek answers.

Gemini: Get creative! This is a potent moment in time for you. The portals are open- wide open- and ushering in a new state of being for you. Career, home, and new opportunities are coming forth. But you must be willing to change everything- dramatically and drastically. Fears are coming to you around comforts, and your old behavior patterns are keeping you stuck. Notice where you are clinging. How desperate are you to live this one, precious life? Let go of everything you've been relying on and take a leap in a new direction.

Cancer: Your heart will be lurching forward in the next two months. Are you opening? Or closing? Inviting in? Or Pushing away? As you fiddle with the gear shift a bit and find a new neutral flow, it's the dance between your mind and emotions that begins to help you find your farfigneugen. There's some new comfort in how you trust your self and your learning process. It feels good, so be courageous, creative, and persevere. Work with "yes and no" dynamics authentically in your relationships. This is a great time to consciously navigate healthy boundaries.

Leo: It might feel like no traction is being made in the coming weeks. You don't know how to act, where or when to take action, or what it should look like. Courage is a bit uneven, kinda sloppy. Work with this friction between stop and start very consciously. Take it into your creative work and use this theme intentionally. There's ample creativity in your current frustrations, so use it for power and awareness not laziness. This is not a time to force outcomes though. It is a time to learn more artful and tactful ways of surrender; to sync with a new type of flow and find a new rhythm. Silence the old default patterns. Seek new answers, rhythms and foot steps and you will reap a whole new kind of result. Let your dancer out of the closet.

Virgo: You are realizing what it feels like to put all your efforts, attention and focus on your self and that when you do, you gain much focus, clarity and creativity as a result. Let this be a theme for the coming 18 months. Though relationships may crumble into pieces, let go and cling only to the flow of surrender. For now, it's ok to focus on your career and finances; this will keep you on track for a while towards your goals and out of any emotional landmines. Just realize that there will be ample clean up to attend to in the coming months with heart and emotions. There's no avoiding it.

Libra: Life may be feeling excruciating right now as Saturn retrogrades deeply back into your first house (your head). It's as though you are climbing deeper and deeper into the belly of the beast. (That's you. You're the beast.) As this intensity builds and climaxes near the 20th, look for parts of your self that are gripping, holding tightly, and refusing to budge. Things will begin to ease as Saturn goes direct and the wheels move in forward motion, but until then, consider this to be a very sacred time of vital deconstruction. Right now, listen more and speak less. This will be a theme for the coming 18 months of increased solitude.

Scorpio: Saturn is working his magic on you right now. You're in the belly of the beast so to speak as he pushes you further and further into your 12th house of isolation. Further and further backwards, more and more inward you go, as you retrace old steps and familiar inner realms. But there are some remarkable shifts happening as you step back into the darkness of your cave. A new sense of courage and thriving surfaces in the coming months because of all your hard work. It's you that has changed, so track your progress and reap the rewards. There's more where that came from.

Sagittarius: Your career is getting a lot of your focus right now and will be a source of both growth and confusion in the coming 18 months. Navigate these murky waters with ingenuity and an entrepreneurial spirit. Gain new knowledge and skills and you will get more benefits. If you keep going about things with the same old patterns, you will flail. Wherever you are resisting change, you will experience issues, so look for the rubs and the sores for guidance. Pay attention to heart and home. Listen to teachers and get advice. You are changing and so are your relationships. Get clear on who and what you want in your life. Let go of what isn't working.

Capricorn: Relationships continue to offer some real learning curves. Some of it is soft, some is hard. Some feels supportive, some of it feels harsh and painful. There are relationship tangles and snarls happening right now- especially at work. It's a time to both radically listen to your needs and navigate how to show up authentically within your relationships simultaneously. Your gut will give some good advice so listen up. In the next 18 months you'll be changing what you offer, how you offer it, who you offer it to and why. Surround your self with all that you want to become and learn through osmosis.

Aquarius: Teachers seem to be coming out of the woodwork. Everywhere you turn another lesson from yet another relationship. And if you're really paying attention, then you are learning a lot about your self in the process. Get ready to take depth to a whole new level. The next 18 months offer ample excavation of your depths, while helping you cut old, unnecessary patterns and behaviors. Hint: What you thought felt comfortable in the past will become no longer comfortable nor helpful. Maybe it's time to take another look at your discomfort and find a new sense of comfort with it?

Pisces: Just when you thought you couldn't climb deeper into your old, dark hole, you find another level of it. You are also in the "belly of the beast" right now. Moksha is working its magic on you. But before the sparkle and shine occurs, you've still got to clear out more debris, rubble and residue. Just a few more steps to go! For now, find meaning, comfort and support in people, environments and experiences that feel trustworthy and solid. Find a life boat and climb on board- even if you have to build it your self.

Need some extra guidance and clarity for this coming year? Schedule a session with me.

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Rahu and Ketu: The Purpose of Our Shadows

Rahu and Ketu are not planets at all, they are mathematical points on either side of the Moon with rather significant implications on our Self experience. The Moon is arguably the most influential part of the chart- indicating our experiences within the womb and our relationship with mother, as well as our inner nature. The Moon is our guide for emotional well being and our connection to our intuitive self. In fact, the Moon is so important to our life experience, the relationship the nodes have with the Moon indicates their impact on our emotional well being- among other things. Rahu and Ketu, the Moon and the rest of the chart, all create our own unique stories, mythologies and individual karmic dramas. Read more about the importance of the Moon.

The nodes, as Rahu and Ketu are referred to, are mischievous in nature. They present our karmas to us in this incarnation. Without them, and their very valuable life lessons, we would not have incarnated into a human body. They are essential to this lila, this play of life, that we are involved with in this dimension. Both Rahu and Ketu have their own unique array of offerings, but because they are shadow "planets" they often evade prediction. Their nature is to deceive, mystify, to be illusive, and to blind us from our true nature. They represent forces that can't be seen and are the parts of ourselves that go unnoticed and unrecognized. When, and if, the shadow or veil of illusion is removed, and we do see what has been hidden from us, it is often extremely painful. Rahu and Ketu request that we ask ourselves: What am I not seeing or what am I not willing to see? What am I clinging to and unable to let go of?

In order to understand the nature of Rahu and Ketu, it helps to have a little background on how they came to be. In Vedic lore, Rahu (north node) and Ketu (south node) came into being during the famous story of the churning of the ocean of milk (the Milky Way). As the devas (gods) were creating this great churning, amrita, the nectar of immortality arose (think churning milk into butter). The devas, however, needed the asuras (demons) to help them with this task and they had to work together to get the job done. As the immortal nectar was created and obtained from this "great churning", Vishnu made certain that it was only given to the devas. However, one asura named Svarbhanu, outsmarted Vishnu and the other devas. He disguised himself as a deva and got in line to have a drop of the sacred nectar given to him. The story goes that he hid between the Sun and the Moon so no one would notice him.

Just as Vishnu poured a drop of nectar into Svarbhanu's mouth, the Sun and Moon recognized that he was actually an asura! Vishnu chopped him in half, but it was too late. A drop of the immortal nectar was already in his mouth! Thus the two halves, Rahu and Ketu were born. The head of the asura who ingested the immortal nectar became Rahu and the lower half, the body of the asura, became Ketu. Rahu and Ketu are the head and tail of the demon, often referred to as the serpent. A lunar eclipse is connected to Rahu- this happens when he tries to eat the Moon, but it falls right out of him. Ketu is connected to the Solar eclipse. 

This epic story is truly metaphoric on so many levels of life. It expresses the interplay of light and dark and how interdependent they both are on each other. These two facets of life are of course alive and well within our own natures and thus the play of shadow and light becomes our dance in life as well.

Rahu is the head of the serpent and has an insatiable appetite for the material world (his cravings for obtaining the nectar) and intoxicants of all kinds. He brings shock and the dark side of life and he can bring sudden changes, upheavals, even quick boons. Where Saturn brings sorrow, sadness and grief- the natural darkness that is life- Rahu brings an intensified demented version of this darkness; he manipulates and obscures everything he touches. Addictions and confusion are Rahu's domain as well as disturbances and trauma. He does not allow us to think clearly and brings deceit and dishonesty with him. That said, there are worldly benefits that come with him as well. He can give money, profits and excesses from the material world. He loves the foreign and unusual, which can offer great learning and awareness as a result. Enjoyable and exotic travels can also come with Rahu. Professions that require lying, cheating and stealing (politicians for example) will get benefits from Rahu.

Where Rahu may give, Ketu takes away, and is responsible for "cutting the ties that bind us to the material world". If we are attached to it, Ketu can and will cut those attachments loose- eventually. That is his job- to help us realize intimately the impermanence of this life. He is highly spiritual and not interested in the material realms at all. He will either grant access to spiritual advancement or deny it; Ketu is connected to Ganesha, the remover of obstacles. Since Ketu is just a body (no head) he literally has no mind. He can either show madness and complete craziness like schizophrenia, or certain zen states of no-mind which are more spiritual in experience. Ketu is a moksha planet, connected to liberation, letting go and deep surrender. Rahu and Ketu are always seven houses away from each other. They are always looking directly at each other, thus, whatever Rahu gives, Ketu will be sure to take it away.

The nodes are always moving against the direction of the other planets, in retrograde fashion. All the planets retrograde periodically (except for Sun and Moon) and when they do, they are said to be acting like Rahu and Ketu as a result. Our cravings, desires and fears are all connected to Rahu and Ketu. They instigate our pains, sorrows and drive us to take actions or no actions. They are our shadowed sides and will indicate what we are moving towards and away from in this life time. Thanks to Rahu and Ketu, we are guaranteed to grow in this life, but it may not be the pleasant kind of growth.

Wondering how this transit of the shadow planets will specifically effect you? Ask me about my jyotish sessions.

Rahu and Ketu Transits

Rahu and Ketu move from Libra and Aries into Virgo and Pisces on July 12th 2014 at 19:11 CDT. It is an extraordinary time on multiple levels- which truly speaks to the level of intensity the nodes offer. As soon as Guru Purnima takes place on the 11th and 12th (USA), the nodes shift signs with a bang. Rahu then collides with a transitioning Mars who is moving into Libra on the 13th, followed by Venus moving into Gemini just after that. Lots of sudden movement in a very short amount of time!

The illusory nature of the nodes brings into question the impact this transit will have on us, but when Rahu and Mars combine (as they will exactly on the 13th) there is sure to be some powerful sparks taking place. Caution should be taken at this time and fires of all kinds are possible, so be prudent. This includes a variety of sparks from the emotional and verbal levels, as well as with relationships. Driving should be done with extra care- if at all. Intoxication and inflammation are indicated with this conjunction, so avoid excesses of all kinds and stay away from others who are likely to be partaking.

Rahu in Virgo and 6th House Matters

As Rahu makes its way into Virgo, we begin to feel the difference from the past 18 months immediately. Likely, most of us will be feeling the shifts weeks in advance on some level. This transit will be very different for many reasons, but essentially it will be enlivening Virgo and the nature of Virgo, as well as all things related to the 6th house. Let's unpack this a bit more.

Whereas Libra is ruled by Saturn and Venus and correlates to 7th house matters like relationships, business and balance; Virgo is about purity, idealism and creativity and ruled by Mercury (the indicator for mental body, communication and creativity). Venus is considered debilitated in Virgo because the restrictions Virgo puts on love, restricts the flowing nature of Venus's love. Libra is an air sign, Virgo is an earth sign and so their expressions and results are truly different. Luckily, Virgo is also the mulitrikona sign of Rahu, which bodes well for material gains and stabilizing finances if all other chart indications support this. We also won't be having the stormy conjunction of Rahu and Saturn together as we have for the last 18 months. Rudra and his storm energy certainly brought intensity! Those days are behind us now thankfully, but this new chapter will bring with it a new wave of challenges and opportunities.

As Rahu transits Virgo, sixth house matters will also be enlivened. The sixth house has to do with disease and debts (the kinds that can be corrected and cured, unlike the 8th house indications) as well as enemies. This house is known to be a trouble maker because of these tendencies, but there are also some fortunate connections as well. Since disease is attributed to 6th house matters, it is also connected to the healer, the one who heals disease as well as being in service to others. And depending on the other indications of the chart, enemies can become friends in certain circumstances. In regard to debts, learning how to handle money and the affairs of money can create much more financial stability; where we put our attention, we learn and grow. So this can be a fabulous time to increase our knowledge and understanding with all the things that are 6th house related.

With Rahu's fanaticism and obsessive nature, it's quite likely that we will be forced to attend to these themes very directly- either by will or by force. Depending on your rising sign and other chart details, the placement of Rahu in your chart during this transit will also enliven other attributes and indications and either heighten or lessen these expressions. This is a general guideline of course.

Other indications of the 6th house include: Enemies/opponents, legal issues/litigation, health, short term disease/sickness, servants and employees, pets, lower abdomen, large intestine, bad habits, maternal uncle and cousins, wounds, boils, scars, sores, cancer, step mother, weapons, struggles, theft, sexual diseases, poisons, healers, digestion, being in service.

From his placement in Virgo, Rahu will give drishti (gaze) to five, seven and nine houses away from him. He will be looking at Pisces directly seven houses away, where Ketu will be as well. His gaze five houses away will be on Capricorn, and nine houses away will give drishti to Taurus- both earth signs like Virgo. Will this transit bring greater stability and grounding into our lives, or an increase in uprooting, change and calamities? Hopefully, the latter, as the desire for earthy stability will be strengthened at this time.

Themes of Virgo will increase during this transit for certain. These include idealism and perfectionism. We may question what this means for us and what our relationship is with idealism as a result. Along with perfectionism comes the critic and our relationship with this inner beast. Do we have a healthy or toxic relationship with this inner entity? We will certainly be getting multiple opportunities to explore this dynamic during this transit.

Purification and cleanliness are other themes that get our attention. Are we being overly fastidious? Using too many diet fads, cleansing rituals and extreme purification practices? Rahu could make us go into over-drive, or under drive depending on your relationship with him and your sixth house nature. Balance is ultimately the goal, but watch out for being extreme- in either direction! Virgo is also very detail oriented, methodical, precise and good with numbers, communications and creative endeavors. Work with goals, timelines and clear time lines in order to get the job done. Virgo's love a good list. Use them and revel in checking off your action steps!

The Virgo nature is to have very high standards which can't often (or ever) be met, so dissatisfaction is likely. Be aware that this theme may develop or be heightened in your own personal mythology. Ask your self these questions periodically: Are your expectations too high? Are you self sabotaging as a result? Are you finding fault with others constantly and being excessively judgmental? What is your relationship with your inner critic? Remember when you lash out at others, there's usually an inner voice saying the same thing to you! This is an ideal transit to create a more harmonious relationship with the inner critic and the  expectations you have with yourself.

Ketu in Pisces and 12th House Matters

As Rahu moves to Virgo, Ketu moves to Pisces. As Rahu moves us towards our own ideals and purification, Ketu moves to the sign of liberation and letting go in order to help us resolve and clean up the pieces in our lives. Ketu's last transit through Aries was all about restructuring the Self, the ego, and how we show up in this world. His transit through Pisces will move us out of an intense individual focus, and push us towards a collective awareness that works for the greater good.

Ketu's nature is the opposite of Rahu's. He is concerned with our moksha, our enlightenment, and is not concerned with the material parts of life. This is why Ketu does well in Pisces as both are moving us towards the same purpose. Ketu is considered mulitrikona in Pisces which means he is quite happy here and can express himself in more harmonious ways ideally.

Just as Ketu is connected to all things liberation and letting go, Pisces is connected to these same themes and all 12th house matters- which are entirely focused on liberation, letting go and self sacrifices. The 12th house is not a house of the material realms, in fact it's quite the opposite. 12th house matters uplift spiritual matters and bring our focus to our enlightenment as a result. This is a house of loss just as the 6th and 8th are, but 12th house matters relate to a unique set of losses that relate particularly to our experiences of liberation and letting go in order for enlightenment. This can include meditation, sex, marriage, selfless service and sleep, as well as being in confinement like at an ashram, or in prison. Ketu will be bringing us flashes of insight, awareness, serendipity, removing of obstacles and releases that help us come closer to our simplest state of being. That does not mean it will be comfortable for us though! Ketu may have our best interest in mind, but we may not like how he goes about it.

Other indications of the 12th house: Hospitals, ashrams, prisons, long meditations and retreats, working in places of confinement, losses, poverty, generosity, sleep and quality of sleep, beds and the comfort of sleeping quarters, spiritual journey's and pilgrimages, wandering, foreign lands and long travels, life after death and the nature of one's previous incarnation, martyrdom, self sacrifice, betrayal, tapas, bill collectors, those who cause us loss, marriage, feet.

Pisces, being connected to the 12th house offers us many of the same themes mentioned above. Pisces is ruled by Jupiter, and Venus is considered exalted here. These planets help us expand and flow and since Ketu is oriented towards formlessness, we may be surprised how we choose to expand and flow, or how we learn to do this in our relationships and with regard to our needs. Pisces is symbolized by two fish swimming in spirals, looping and flowing in endless circles. Sometimes this translates as indecisiveness or as being a "pleaser" personality that tries to make everyone happy all the time. Ketu may help us cut out any confusion typically offered by the Pisces mythology by giving us clarity and focus. I would expect this clarity to come in surprising ways as Ketu is all about sudden events and occurrences!

Pisces is however quite mystical and is connected to the endless stream of consciousness flowing back and forth between heaven and earth. Pisces is known for intuitive awareness, sympathy, contemplation, modesty, philosophy, generosity and in general, being polite. If any of these attributes are excessive within us (for example lack of healthy boundaries and codependency issues) this will be a cycle where we will learn the harsh lessons about giving too much. Ketu will certainly help "enlighten" us on where we need more appropriate and harmonious boundaries with giving and receiving.

Based on these themes of the 12th house and Pisces, we will be creating many new parameters for ourselves with regard to relationships and how to find more balance with them. Wherever we have been excessive- giving too much of ourselves or not creating healthy and mutually beneficial boundaries for ourselves- we will likely get the flashlight memo and get a wake up call! Some may learn this lesson from loss and letting go, others will find a new set point more easily. With Jupiter exalted in the heart center (Cancer) at the same time, emotions and matters of the heart will be playing their role in our new sense of balance and harmony. Many of us will make a re-commitment to the Self during this time- putting our needs and desires first and foremost. Ultimately what is good for ourselves and our development is good for others, so putting our needs first is always a win/win for all involved.

As Ketu moves from Aries into Pisces, it's considered a very challenging gandanta position- the junction between two sign. Aries is the beginning of the zodiac (the head) and Pisces is the end (the feet). And because Rahu and Ketu always move in retrograde motion, Ketu is essentially jumping from the beginning to the end, thus starting a new cycle for each of us. It's been 18 years since Ketu was in Pisces and Rahu in Virgo. This is a new beginning in many ways. Likely we are each feeling its poignancy. However, Ketu will be fresh in Pisces once he moves, without much awareness of this "new cycle" yet. Reflect on your past 18 years for guidance. What are you cutting out and restructuring in your life? What are you letting go of and finding freedom from? Go there with zeal and make plenty of room for the changes.

Use this time of the Rahu and Ketu transits to recommit to your enlightenment and spiritual pursuits. Make healing and health a priority and focus. Seek balance with relationships- the relationship with your Self and with others. Look for fanaticism, rigidity and where your idealism is forcing you off track from goals and the long term agenda. Creating more harmony is ultimately the goal, but we may have to work with some extremes before we find our sense of center. In this cycle, don't fall off the wagon and loose your commitment to health and well being with excess toxicity, but at the same time, excessive puritanical and self righteous behaviors will not lead to sustainability and healing in the long run. This is a unique cycle that can truly awaken us to parts of ourselves that we have been missing- overlooking perhaps out of fear, denial and past suffering. We have the opportunity to introspect in new and unique ways as a result of this cycle. No doubt the outcome of the next 18 months will be a time period of great change, clarity and momentum. Here we go!

Wondering how this transit of the shadow planets will specifically effect you? Ask me about my jyotish sessions.

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